A Question of Where
by crazygirlne
Summary: After a stressful trip to an alternate universe, Rose wants nothing more than some time with her mother, to help her get past feeling like she had lost both of her parents. When she and the Doctor arrive at the Powell Estate, however, Jackie is nowhere to be found. Where is her mother, and how will Rose and the Doctor handle this turn of events?
1. Just Gone

Collab between Scullywolf and crazygirlne. Beta'd by Resile, who was also prompted into prompting, "What if Jackie isn't there?"

* * *

Rose clung to the console, unsure whether the spinning she felt was from the TARDIS's flight or from leaving behind Mickey and versions of her parents on an alternate Earth.

Well, leaving behind a version of one parent, at any rate.

It felt rather like she'd lost everyone, though, and Rose felt unsteady, unsure in a way she wasn't used to. Traveling with the Doctor, it was exciting, emotional, challenging, but she rarely felt as if she were having trouble recovering from their trip.

"Can we stay at Mum's for a bit longer than usual this time? I think I need more than just a few hours," asked Rose, grateful that the spinning seemed to be slowing down. The Doctor leapt to another control, rotating it slightly, tongue to his top teeth.

"Sure," he said with a nod, keeping his focus on the controls. "'Course we can."

Rose stood still as the Doctor moved around her, pressing keys and flipping levers. She stared at a flashing light that the Doctor had once told her came standard on all spaceships and didn't do anything worth noting. Her mum… that Jackie, the other world's Jackie, she had died, slaughtered with so many while still all alone. Seeing her father alive again after she and the Doctor had made sure he didn't die alone, only to have her mother suffer a worse fate, not just being mechanized, but then… Rose had been glad the Doctor had immediately suggested a trip to the Powell Estate after they'd reached the vortex of their proper universe.

The TARDIS bumped to a halt, and the Doctor placed a steadying hand on Rose's upper arm as she swayed.

"Rose," he said, his voice low and calm. She tore her eyes away from the blinking light and turned to look at him, making an effort to keep still. "She wasn't _your_ Jackie."

"I know," she responded, taking a deep breath, "but I need to see her. I need… I need to spend some time reminding myself she's okay, _really_ okay. Need to see her alive, right?"

The flash of emotion in his eyes-pain, understanding, something akin to affection-stopped her from immediately running to the doors. His hand slid down to just above her elbow, and she leaned into his touch, closing her eyes for a moment before looking back at him.

"Do you want me to drop you off?" he asked, watching her. "Girls' weekend, you and Jackie can catch up." He raised his hand to rub the back of his neck, his gaze moving to somewhere over her head. "Or I could… well, the TARDIS could certainly use a break after what we just… with the parallel world and the crashing and the almost dying completely. Might do some good if I stayed for a bit, did some repairs."

Rose felt a small smile start to form, and she nodded, some of the muscles in her back relaxing. "Feels sort of like I just left everyone behind, yeah? I'd love you to stay here with me."

He grinned, and she turned toward the TARDIS's exit, moving faster as she approached, almost flinging open the doors. She looked around, orienting herself. They'd landed in the alley nearest to where her mother lived, and Rose started quickly toward the flat she'd once considered her home. Her step faltered as the Doctor caught hold of her hand before she'd realized he was so close behind her, but she regained her pace and ran an appreciative thumb across his.

They reached the flat, and Rose twisted the door knob, frowning when she found it locked. She knocked impatiently.

"Mum, it's us. Forgot my key," she called, rapping her knuckles against the door again. "Mum?" When there was no response, she turned to the Doctor.

"She should be home. It's Saturday, I can tell 'cause Mr. Peterson's door's propped open," she nodded at another flat along the way. She looked down at the locked door knob, then back to the Doctor, who had already let go of her hand to retrieve his sonic.

"Faster than going back to the TARDIS for your key," he said with a shrug, aiming the device at the handle.

After the distinctive whirring of the sonic screwdriver, the lock clicked, and Rose opened the door, rushing into the apartment.

"Mum! Mum?" she tried, glancing into the empty bedrooms and the open bathroom, the Doctor keeping a careful distance behind her, probably to avoid an accidental sighting of a naked Jackie Tyler. "She isn't here," admitted Rose after a minute of searching the small flat.

"Maybe she just popped out for the washing?" asked the Doctor, raising an eyebrow.

Rose rubbed her arm, shaking her head, not sure why she was certain something was unusual, that her mother wasn't just out on an errand.

"No. She's probably over at Jan's. She'll stay there for ages if she's there on a weekend. S'why she usually goes over during the week, 'cause Jan can talk even more than you can."

"Oi," protested the Doctor halfheartedly, any further response curbed by the fact that Rose was already making her way to the still-open door.

Rose walked briskly to the identical flat a few doors down and knocked, actively trying to curb her impatience. She took a deep breath as the Doctor joined her, trying her best to relax. She gave the Doctor a tight smile, and the door finally opened.

"Oh, it's Rose and her bloke, that doctor!" said Jan loudly, and Rose felt some of her tension drain when she heard other female voices emanating from inside the living room. The older woman smiled absently at Rose before looking the Doctor over thoroughly. He squirmed under the scrutiny from Jackie's friend, and Rose fought a smirk. "So where've you been, then, love?" Jan asked.

"Oh, you know," said Rose, "here and there." She shuffled her feet and peered through the door, trying to catch a glimpse of her mother. Why hadn't she come out yet?

"Bet your mum loved that, 'here and there.'" Jan laughed. "Always on about how she doesn't know where you got off to. It's like you don't even know where you're going!" She looked at the Doctor as Rose rubbed her own arm. "So when's you two getting married, then?"

Rose shook her head.

"We're not… Jan, is my-" she started, only to be interrupted.

"Go on, now, don't tell me you aren't together. I know Jackie don't believe it, neither, and she'd know by now, wouldn't she? Reckon I ought to ask her."

"Can I talk to her?" asked Rose when the other woman stopped talking long enough to take a breath.

"Can you talk to her? Always seemed to be able to before. I mean, dunno what you're asking me for. Had her for weeks, you have. Is she gonna be coming over to join us? Always busy on Saturdays, Jackie is. Don't understand it."

Rose stared, and she felt the Doctor's hand on her shoulder, Jan's eyes darting gleefully toward the contact.

"I told you," Jan yelled into the room behind her. "They're definitely together, don't matter what it is they say."

"You mean my mum's not in there?" asked Rose. "Do you know where she is, then?"

"What do you mean?" asked Jan, turning back toward Rose, chuckling a bit at the laughter and indistinguishable voices from inside.

"I'm looking for my mum," Rose enunciated, frustrated when Jan turned back toward her living room, ready to yell again.

"Jan," said the Doctor, his voice catching the woman's attention better than Rose's had, "we need to find Jackie. Have you seen her?"

Rose's heart sank as the woman shook her head. Maybe they should try the laundrette next, after all, or she could try calling Bev or maybe she… Jan's voice cut through her thoughts.

"Haven't seen her since she left with you lot a couple weeks ago. She hasn't even called! Expected at least a phone call, I did, but nothing, not a word. Now I know where you get it from, swanning off for a year without so much as a goodbye. Did you hear about that, Rose leaving for a year?" She looked at the Doctor. "Pretty sure he was a doctor, too, come to think of it. Got a thing for them, eh? Least I saw Jackie go, so I don't have to wonder if she got murdered or nothing. Quite the scandal, that was."

"And when was it that she left with us, exactly?" asked the Doctor, who sounded unconcerned. He squeezed Rose's shoulder reassuringly.

"I dunno, a week ago, maybe two? It's been two Saturdays, I know that much. Saw her leaving with you… Well, not you," she nodded at the Doctor, "but with Rose. They had suitcases packed, so I knew they were joining you, going traveling or whatever it is you do. Did she have a good time? I thought she might. Either that or she'd hate it, you know. Never do really know whether you'll like traveling until you do it, right? I said so to-"

"She can't have left with me," said Rose, having trouble moving past her mother not being where she needed her to be, when she needed her to be there. "I didn't go anywhere with her."

"What?" Jan sounded confused, her face contorted almost comically. "But of course you did. Saw it myself, didn't I?"

"But-"

"Rose," interrupted the Doctor, "we might've visited and forgotten."

"But how could I forget?" asked Rose, knowing she was missing something but struggling to stave off the panic. "I need to see her, Doctor, after… knowing she…"

"Rose," he said again, gentle but insistent, while Jan watched the exchange with wide eyes. "You remember how we travel?" She looked at him, trying to understand. "There might not be a memory to forget, yet."

Rose's eyes widened as she understood.

"We'll go back for her," she confirmed.

The Doctor nodded.

Jan, who Rose had forgotten was listening, chimed in, and Rose wondered whether she'd ever heard her stay quiet for so long. It must have been at least thirty seconds.

"Are you pregnant, then? I never could remember anything when I was pregnant. Forgot my own name a few times, I did. Well, surname, at any rate. Is that why you need to talk to your mum? Is it something about the baby?"

Rose shook her head again, frowning.

"No, I'm not pregnant. We're not together like that."

"Well now, I don't believe..." started Jan, but the Doctor spoke over her.

"Oh, look at the time," he said, glancing at his bare wrist. "We've got to go. It's been lovely catching up with you, must do it again soon. Bye now." He put his hand on Rose's lower back and started leading her away, moving quickly toward the TARDIS.

"Well, I never…" heard Rose from behind her as Jan's door shut. She tuned out the noise as it grew muffled and faint, turning her attention to the Doctor instead.

"Never thought I'd meet a woman who could out-Jackie Jackie," he was mumbling, more to himself than anything. "But what's she doing coming with us on the TARDIS? And with luggage! That's not just a quick trip, is it? Figures it would take an ontological paradox for me to let your mother on board."

"My mum leaving with us, that's us getting her now, today, yeah? Our now, I mean, soon as we get back to the TARDIS. You just take me and mum somewhere else since we didn't stay here," suggested Rose. "I dunno, the beach or something. Don't really care where we are, just so long as I get to see her."

"Yes, I suppose I could drop you two off somewhere for a nice holiday," he said. "Maybe we'll find the TARDIS could do with refueling after all. Right, well, let's go pick her up, and we can figure it out from there."

"But how are we gonna find out when to go get her? I need her now."

Rose heard the slight whine in her voice and knew she was repeating herself, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She was exhausted, having had no real mental or physical rest since they'd dealt with the Cybermen. She stumbled, and the Doctor's arm moved from her lower back to wrap around her waist.

"Easily sorted, Rose. Just have to do a scan for the TARDIS's energy signature, and that'll tell us when we were here."

She closed her eyes, leaning into his support and letting him get them safely to the TARDIS.


	2. A Troubling Twist

Collab between Scullywolf and Crazygirlne. Beta'd by Resile.

* * *

Their ordeal in the parallel world had clearly affected Rose more than he'd realized.

Granted, it was always harder when things got personal, and things had been _very_ personal for her there, indeed. If he were being honest, the Doctor had been so relieved to get out of the alternate universe, so relieved Rose hadn't wanted to stay, that he hadn't taken the time to fully consider what she might be going through. Seeing her mother's double Cyberized, finding and losing her father all over again, saying goodbye to Mickey forever - none of those things would be a picnic on its own, and they were undoubtedly all the more upsetting together.

Especially if the borderline-panicked look in her eyes back there was anything to go by.

He tightened his arm around her waist as they approached the TARDIS, fishing his key out of his pocket with his other hand. With a glance at her ashen face, he opened the door and guided her to the jump seat, where she sat down shakily. He crouched in front of her, placing his hands on her knees and looking up at her face. She was biting her lip, clearly trying to hold it together.

"You all right?" he asked, unsettled by the difficulty she seemed to be having with the situation. "You're looking a bit pale, so if you start feeling faint or short of breath or anything like that, you need to let me know, understand?"

She nodded, eyes closed, and took a deep breath. "'M all right. Let's just find her."

"We will," he promised, finding her hands and squeezing them lightly, feeling somewhat reassured when she squeezed his in return. "I'm going to get started on that right now."

When she nodded again, he stood up and turned toward the console. "Right. Running a scan for residual Huon energy in this location within the last...what's it been, a month since we were here last?"

He knew perfectly well that it had been four weeks and two days exactly, Earth time, since they'd last popped by Jackie's flat for tea and TARDIS repairs, but he wanted to try to keep Rose distracted from her anxiety as much as possible. The more he could keep her from spiraling further, the better off she'd be. He glanced away from the monitor and back over his shoulder; she shook her head, as if to clear it, and blinked.

"Yeah, a month's about right," she said. "She was going on about how I'd missed Nan's birthday again."

"Good, yes, so she was. Though to be honest, I take issue with the notion that the celebration of chronological events in linear time is necessarily the first priority when one is living aboard a time-traveling spaceship." He turned back around and finished entering the relevant time coordinates. "All right, now if your Jan is correct, we should see a spike in energy right around…."

He raised a finger, primed to point out the expected mark of the TARDIS's energy signature on the screen, but it wasn't there. He frowned, typing more and re-running the scan, certain he hadn't simply mis-entered something but trying it again, anyway. Once more, it beeped through to completion without displaying anything between their last visit and current one.

"Huh."

"Doctor? What is it? Did you find when we need to go?" he heard from behind him.

"Perhaps we'll need to land in Cardiff to refuel?" he muttered to himself. "Let me widen the geographical search radius, and…."

His fingers flew over the keyboard, running and re-running the scan until he was checking for a sign of them having landed anywhere on the whole Earth. He picked up one signal in the Himalayas but was almost positive he could attribute that one to an unfortunate encounter with an Ogri in his seventh regeneration. He didn't realize Rose had been trying to get his attention until she shouted.

"Doctor!"

He spun around. She was leaning forward and staring at him, eyes wide.

"Sorry! Sorry." He reached up and tugged on his ear. "The scan, er, it's not indicating that we've been here since our last visit. At all."

"What do you mean? If we weren't here, how did we pick up my mum? I don't..."

"Well, that's the thing. According to the TARDIS-" He gestured at the monitor behind him. "-we, ah, we didn't."

"Then where the bloody hell is she?"

At a near loss for words, he looked at her, his mouth opening and closing as he struggled to find an answer. Truth was, he had no idea where Jackie Tyler could be or how she might have appeared to leave with Rose two weeks ago and not returned since.

Unless….

He discarded the thought almost as soon as he considered it. And then he picked it up again, turning it over and over in his mind, looking for the places where it might actually be possible, what exactly would have to lead up to such a thing occurring.

"Doctor, how are we gonna find her?"

Her voice was small but shook him from his reverie just as forcefully as if she'd bellowed. He started, blinking, and took a deep breath.

"What if...what if there's no Huon spike because you're not in the TARDIS when you come for her?"

Rose's brow furrowed. "Is there something wrong with the TARDIS, then? Are we gonna hitch a lift back with like a teleport or something? Like the one Jack wore?"

"Jack had a vortex manipulator," he corrected automatically, with a little wave of his hand because that really wasn't the point. "But in any event, Jan said she didn't see me. She only saw you with Jackie. Maybe you…" He hesitated, half-afraid of bringing his fears to pass simply by voicing them, but unable to ignore this potential explanation for the scan's results. "Maybe something happens that makes you want to...to go on your own. To leave."

Once he'd actually said the words aloud, he realized that it didn't exactly sound like the most likely scenario. But too many people had left him over the years for him to see any one companion's promises as immutable things, no matter how badly he wanted to do so.

Rose looked at him as if he'd spontaneously grown another head. "Are you daft? Even if I was gonna leave you, which I'm not, that doesn't make any sense. You're the only shot I've got at finding her, and you think I'm gonna leave you and then, what, magically bump into someone on 21st century Earth who just _happens_ to have a teleport? That's your explanation?" She gestured to herself with wide, loose movements. "Maybe it wasn't even me Jan saw Mum with! Maybe Mum made a friend, someone who looked like me from a distance, and they decided to go traveling. Jan's eyes aren't near as good as her gossip."

Maybe it wasn't Rose with Jackie? Maybe it wasn't Rose!

'"Oh, I _am_ thick!" The Doctor, appalled he hadn't seen the answer straight away, whirled around to face the console once more. He pulled his glasses out of his coat pocket and shoved them on his face. "Rose, you are brilliant! Of course it wasn't you!"

"What do you mean it wasn't me? I mean, how can you tell?"

Typing rapidly, he called back over his shoulder. "We were looking for Huon energy, but what we didn't think to look for was any trace of psychogenic camouflage. And if I'm right, what we _should_ find is - there!"

He started to turn toward Rose again but jumped when he saw that she'd walked up right behind him to peer over his shoulder at the monitor. He jabbed a finger at a whirlpool pattern in the middle of the screen.

"_That_ is a blanket of phantasmic radiation. It modifies the memories of anyone standing within its radius. Not in a really conspicuous way, but more like a perception filter. Makes people think they saw something benign and completely ordinary instead of, say, a friend from down the hall leaving her flat with a total stranger."

"So wait, you're saying my mum left with some sort of, what, some alien who can modify memories? But why? What would they want with her?"

"I'm not sure yet, but there are only a handful of species with access to that kind of technology. Even fewer with the ability to emit that type of radiation biologically. No, a device would be more likely, something portable. So first we figure out the 'who,' and then we can figure out the 'why' and the 'where.' Pity we don't have a way to track her directly, but if we can figure out who she's with, we might be able to track _them_ instead." He removed his glasses, tucking them carefully back into his breast pocket. "Right. Let's go back to the flat. Maybe whoever has your mother left behind something we can use to determine a planet of origin. A biological calling card, if you will."

Rose nodded, then gasped, pushing past him and diving for the TARDIS phone on the other side of the console. "Calling card! Doctor, we can call her! Maybe she's been calling me and I wouldn't even know 'cause I left Mickey my phone. Oh, thank god I convinced her to let you supercharge her battery last time we were here. Should still work even if she hasn't charged it since she left."

It seemed like a long shot - surely Jackie would have used her phone to contact someone else if she even had it with her - but he didn't see any harm in letting Rose try. Still, he didn't want her to get her hopes up just yet.

"Rose, I'm not sure…."

She shook her head and held up a hand. "It's ringing!"

Her knuckles were white as she gripped the phone, pressing it to her ear with the hope of someone desperate for answers. Her expression slowly changed from one of tense anticipation, growing more grim with each successive ring until she slammed the phone down in frustration.

"Bugger! Bloody thing went to voicemail."

The Doctor walked over and put a hand on her shoulder, drawing her in for a hug. She pressed her face into his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her voice was muffled when she spoke again.

"What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do if she's dead in this world, too?"

Moving his hands to her upper arms and pushing her backward, slightly, he crouched a little so he could look her in the eyes. Hers were shining with unshed tears, and he was determined to make things right for her.

"Listen to me, Rose," he told her, waiting to continue until she gave a tiny nod of confirmation. "There is no indication that anything like that has happened, all right? We have no reason yet to think any real harm has come to her."

"Right, because only the nice aliens use brainwashing technology."

"It's just a tool! A bit blunt, I'll grant, but I've got at least half a dozen phantasmic radiation emitters on this ship. I don't use them often because I don't have to, but certain non-humanoid species use them all the time simply to blend in on Earth!"

She took a shaky breath. "Okay, but then why isn't she answering her mobile? She always answers when I call."

He shrugged. "Maybe she doesn't have it with her. Listen, the sooner we go have a look around the flat, the closer we'll be to having some answers." He moved backward a step, holding out his hand. "C'mon. Let's go see what we can find. Maybe have a chat with some of the other neighbors as well, see if anyone else saw Jackie leave. They're likely to have slightly varying stories, since this kind of technology relies on people sort of filling in the blanks on their own, but if we can get something resembling a consensus as to when she left or which way she was going, that will help."

"So we talk to them about what they saw so we can find out what they didn't see, and this will help us find out what really happened?"

"Exactly!"

Rose smiled. It was slight, but it was a smile, and the color was starting to come back to her face; the Doctor grinned in response.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

She took his hand and nodded, and he led the way down the ramp and out the door of the time ship.


	3. Chasing the Answer

Collab between Scullywolf and Crazygirlne. Beta'd by Resile.

* * *

Rose blinked a few times as they walked into the sunlight on the way back to the flat, her hand still linked with the Doctor's.

"Let's go back to Jan's first," Rose suggested, feeling her head clear a bit. They had a plan, now, and she could focus on the tasks ahead of them. "We want to talk to more people, so we should stop by while they're all still there."

The Doctor nodded, smiling at her again, watching her a few seconds longer than she thought the situation warranted. "That's good thinking. Not that I relish another captivating conversation with that woman, mind, but there must have been half a dozen other ladies in the flat with her. The more people we can speak with who may have seen or heard something, the better we can piece together what their stories have in common, and that'll give us a better picture of what we're looking for."

There was a moment of silence before Rose spoke again. "I'm really okay, Doctor. You can stop looking at me like I'm gonna fall apart."

The Doctor used his free hand to rub the back of his neck.

"Some people would completely go to pieces in the face of far less than you've been through in the past 48 hours," he said carefully.

"I'm not some people, though, am I?" She was unsure whether she was more frustrated with the Doctor or with herself; she'd seen so much, and she usually handled it so well, but whenever it was personal, it was just so hard. She wouldn't think badly of a stranger for being worried about a family member, of course, but she traveled with the Doctor. She was supposed to be able to handle this. Being grouped in with everyone else, then, like she was nobody special… It hurt.

He squeezed her hand. "Definitely not."

She glanced at him and saw he wore a small smile, a warm look in his eyes, one she wasn't quite ready to put a name to, one that told her he meant what he said, that he didn't lump her together with others. He blinked and looked forward again, clearing his throat.

"Right. Erm, it's possible my behavior may have been interpreted as a bit rude when we we last spoke with Jan, so perhaps you ought to take the lead this time."

She made a sound that landed somewhere between a laugh and a snort. "Yeah, that might go over a bit better."

When they reached Jan's flat, Rose knocked, and women's muffled voices tried to escape the closed door. She looked down to where she and the Doctor still held hands, then she unwound her fingers, the Doctor holding on a moment longer before shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Don't need her distracted again by whether we're getting married anytime soon," she explained just before the door opened.

Jan frowned at the Doctor before turning to Rose. "Back again, are you? What is it, love?"

"Hullo, Jan," said Rose, smiling apologetically. "Sorry about earlier. Been a long day, what with the traveling. Do you mind if we come in, talk with everyone for a bit?"

"Sure!" she replied, face lighting up. "You don't usually visit anyone but Jackie while you're here. Can't wait for everyone in my flat to see you."

Jan turned and walked into the living room, leaving Rose to follow, the Doctor closing the door before joining the rest of them.

"Look who's here," gushed Jan, looking around at the five other women who were perched on various pieces of mismatched, floral furniture.

Everyone spoke at once, voices overlapping:

"Hello!"

"Well, if it isn't Rose and her Doctor!"

"Is your mother with you, then?"

"Hullo."

"Welcome home, love."

Rose smiled at each woman in turn, silently scrambling to remember a couple of their names in case she needed them.

"Mum's not here," she said, addressing the one who'd asked. "Actually, I was hoping I could ask, if that's alright… Did anyone else see me leave with her?"

"Does that mean it wasn't you who left with her?" asked the woman whose hair was dyed a very bright red, whose name Rose couldn't recall. "I told you, Janet, I said it, I said Jackie left with a bloke."

"It wasn't a bloke or Rose," a third woman, Alice maybe, chimed in. "She left with two women, and neither one of them was Rose."

"I'm telling you she left with Rose," insisted Jan, crossing her arms. The three women who weren't involved in the conversation remained silent, watching and listening, waiting for Rose to shed light on an argument they'd probably already heard. "She left with _you_, didn't she, Rose?"

"Well," she said, "I actually don't… When did you see her leave?" she directed toward Alice and the redhead.

"Friday," said Alice firmly, nodding. "A week before yesterday."

"That's right," confirmed the woman with red hair. "It was definitely Friday."

Jan crossed her arms. "The when isn't as important as who she left with, now is it? Rose, tell us now, she left with you, didn't she?"

"Well… that's not…" She glanced at the Doctor. He looked back at her, and she saw his hand twitch before he shoved both hands into his pockets once more, focusing his attention back on the women who continued to speak.

"Leave the poor girl alone," said Alice. "She clearly doesn't want to make you uncomfortable by telling you you're wrong."

"Who says I'm wrong?" said Jan, stepping forward so that Rose and the Doctor were left on the outskirts of the room.

"I do," said the redhead, standing from the sofa, staying far enough from Jan that Rose didn't think there would be a physical altercation. She was also fairly certain there wouldn't be a break in the argument any time soon.

"We're just gonna…" mumbled Rose, trailing off when none of the women paid her any attention. She looked back at the Doctor and gestured for the door. He nodded and moved toward it, opening the door quietly, closing it carefully after Rose had exited. "I'm gonna hear about that for years."

"At least we escaped, even if only just. Remind me to land the TARDIS inside Jackie's flat next time so we don't bump into any of them walking across the estate."

They walked toward her Mum's flat, hands brushing but not joining. Rose opened the still-unlocked door and walked in, looking around more carefully this time. The living room looked to be in its normal state. Nothing was knocked over, nothing was broken. There was a little bit of clutter here and there, but nothing that seemed to be outside of normal limits.

"Nothing to indicate a struggle of any kind," commented the Doctor, "and there don't appear to be any signs of forced entry. Not to say it's impossible to enter forcibly without damaging anything, but no obvious signs of it, that's generally a good thing."

Rose nodded absently.

"The television is off. Between that and the door being locked, she probably did leave of her own free will, Rose."

"Either that or they wanted it to look like she did," said Rose. "If they made people think her leaving was normal, makes sense they wouldn't want obvious things out of place, yeah?" She paused, looking at the Doctor, who ran a hand through his hair. "Don't mean to be all negative. Just feel like something went wrong here. Can't picture Mum leaving with an alien on purpose, either."

"She might not have known it was an alien, though. Or that _they_ were. Those ladies couldn't seem to agree on how many people they saw with her."

Rose moved to the kitchen, again looking for any signs that her mother had been forcibly taken, seeing nothing amiss. She checked the bathroom and her mother's room, looking for Jackie's mobile in the usual places while she was at it, before collapsing on her old bed, throwing herself down face first. She felt the Doctor sit next to her.

"Rose…"

"I'm still fine," she said, then turned her head toward him so that she could speak without her blankets in the way. "We know she's gone, but not why, who with, where… I was sure we'd find something here to tell us."

"We do know when she left, now," he said. "Also, chances are she wasn't hurt even if she did go without wanting to, since there's no blood, nothing broken in the flat."

Rose took a deep breath and sat up, leaning against him.

"Still feel like something's wrong."

The Doctor lightly put his arm around her shoulders, and Rose hid her face in his chest. This wasn't something normal for them, their hugs usually being reserved for reunions and unexpected excitement, but right now, Rose was willing to accept the comfort if he was willing to give it.

They sat that way in silence for a few minutes until the Doctor finally spoke.

"You know," he said, "it's been a long time since you've had anything to eat or drink. Might help."

"Yeah, alright," said Rose, tired. She stood and walked into the kitchen, then stopped. There was something out of place in the living room, after all. She turned around, walking past the Doctor, who opened his mouth to speak. She spoke first as she rushed across the room to a lamp on a side table.

"Here!" she said, gesturing to a teacup that sat next to it. "She didn't leave on her own, I knew it."

The Doctor joined her, brow furrowed.

"You...got that from a teacup?"

"It's not the teacup," she answered. "It's where it is. Mum hates when people put cups here! She says she can't reach the lamp without breaking 'em, and she doesn't have enough to spare. Mickey used to put them there sometimes, just to get her worked up, and she would yell so loud that Mrs. Murphy would come knocking. Anyway, she wouldn't put one there, and she wouldn't let anyone else do it, either. She definitely wouldn't leave the flat with one sitting there, not unless it was an emergency, but if it was an emergency, she wouldn't have made sure the telly was off or the door was locked, would she?"

She felt charged, excited to have figured something out, to have found some clue. When the Doctor beamed at her, she smiled in return.

"Look at you! Rose Tyler, private eye!"

"So does that make you my assistant, then?" she asked.

Then her face fell.

"But that means… That means she probably isn't okay." She looked at the teacup, staring, wishing it could speak.

"Rose, look at me," said the Doctor, calm and firm. She tore her eyes from the cup, blinking at his close proximity.

"I still don't think she was injured," he told her, "and I am quite brilliant. Genius, even." He gave her a small smile. "We'll find her."

Rose looked away from him, unable to handle the understanding she saw, not without breaking down, and she couldn't do that right now. Her mother had probably been taken, and they needed to figure out where and by whom. As she averted her eyes, she caught sight of another cup.

"Doctor, this isn't her cup," she said, gesturing toward the cup by the lamp. "That one is." She pointed at another teacup, set neatly near where her mother usually sat. She met his eyes again. "That means this cup belonged to whoever took her, yeah? Could we get, I dunno, DNA off it? See it all the time in films."

The Doctor grinned at her again.

"Yes, that is absolutely a thing we can do. We'll take this cup back to the TARDIS laboratory and run it through the DNA sequencer. That will at least give us a species result, and if we're very lucky, it'll be a species with a known gathering place, which would in turn give us a possible location. But even if we aren't so lucky, it's more information than we started with. You are brilliant!"

"Do we need to use gloves and put it in a baggie or anything?" she asked. The Doctor shook his head.

"I can preserve the sample with the sonic." He pulled the device from his pocket. "Unfortunate that I haven't added genetic testing capabilities to it yet. Might come in handy from time to time." He aimed it at the teacup, the distinctive whirr emitting, then put the sonic screwdriver back in his pocket, the teacup quickly finding its way to another pocket. "It'll be safe in there."

Rose looked around one more time, but she saw nothing else unusual. There were a couple more cups in various places around the flat, but there was no real way to tell whether they'd been there for longer than her mother had been missing.

"Okay then, Doctor," she said, moving toward the door. "Let's go find my mum."


	4. Krace Conundrum

Collab between Scullywolf and Crazygirlne. Beta'd by Re-sile.

* * *

All of the trekking back and forth to the TARDIS was starting to seem a bit silly.

"If we need to return to the flat after this, I am definitely flying us there," the Doctor muttered, unlocking the door once more. "Should have just landed there in the first place, would've fit just fine."

Once inside, he led the way through to the laboratory. He mentally ran through the list of species who were known to use psychogenic camouflage. Tourists, mostly. Anyone with a tendency towards invasion rather than sightseeing typically wouldn't care much about blending in.

Zygons were, of course, one of the notable exceptions, but their methods were rather different from what appeared to be going on here.

There were plenty of non-humanoids out there who considered the Earth an exotic, if somewhat primitive, holiday destination. Strict intergalactic tourism regulations forbade anything beyond a Level 2 interaction - conversing with a service employee, for example - without a sociological research permit, so whoever had absconded with Jackie Tyler was either an academic or in clear violation of even the least restrictive travel contract. He wasn't entirely sure which to hope for.

Rose grabbed his elbow just then, pulling him out of his thoughts. He spun around, abashed to realize he'd been completely ignoring her, now that her overall demeanor was no longer a cause for immediate concern. Blimey, he was rude when he got wrapped up in his own head.

"Sorry, did you say something?"

"Isn't this the door?" She pointed at the clearly-labeled laboratory entrance beside them, which was significantly closer to the console room than usual. The TARDIS was obviously trying to be helpful, but he'd been running on auto-pilot and would have walked right past it.

"Right! Yes. So it is." He flashed her a smile. "Where would I be without you?"

"Probably down the corridor, turning right, straight on for a bit, third left…."

"Oi! Cheeky, you are," he said, and she grinned in the way he found so very distracting. For a moment, the entire world narrowed to the space between her teeth, a space inhabited by the tip of her tongue. He cleared his throat. "Ah, not wrong, though. The TARDIS doesn't seem to realize that interior rearrangement is significantly less helpful when I'm busy thinking. Or she does realize it and just delights in having a go at me. It's a good thing she's so fond of you."

He pushed open the door and walked inside, crossing quickly to the cabinet that housed the DNA sequencer. The instrument sat on a sliding shelf, which he pulled out before beginning the startup procedure. He worked quietly but quickly, focused on his task, yet still aware of Rose standing beside him; she was chewing on a thumb nail, pensive. The Doctor turned and gave what he hoped was a confident smile as he withdrew the teacup from his pocket and placed it in the sample chamber.

"Here we are, then. Just have to tell the machine to ignore any human DNA," he said, typing in the relevant commands, "and start. Should only take a few seconds if there's a good sample here."

Indeed, the instrument whirred briefly, and there was a rapid flashing of lights within the sample chamber as it ran the optical analysis in triplicate. Moments later, a beep heralded the test's completion, and the result showed on the display screen.

"Krace? Really?" the Doctor remarked, surprised. He tugged on his ear. "Can't say I expected that. Huh."

"Is that bad? What are they like? Are they dangerous?"

"Well, it's usually difficult to make generalizations about an entire species. Take humans, for example. There's not much you can say that will be accurate and relevant to every human, everywhere on Earth, right? Consider all of the many cultures and societal norms that vary from region to region, or even within individual regions. Belief systems, social structures, individual personalities. It's nearly impossible to predict a given human's behavior or motivations without a lot more information." He looked up to see an almost pained expression on Rose's face. "Sorry. Rambling. Short answer is no. They're not dangerous."

She let out a breath, posture relaxing slightly. "But what would they want with Mum?"

"Well, that's just it. What I was saying before, about species generalizations? Oddly enough, that inability to generalize applies far, far less to the Krace, who evolved an unusually homogeneous culture, planet-wide. They are, as a people, incredibly polite, generally shy, and disinclined to interact with outsiders unless absolutely necessary. Why they would go out of their way to not only converse with your mother but then take her somewhere with them, I can't imagine."

Rose frowned. "Does this help us find them, at least? Is there somewhere they get together, like you were saying earlier?"

"Unfortunately, they don't have a tendency to congregate here on Earth," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Small tour groups, families or close friends, come here to experience the novelty of human culture, sort of like how your lot go on safari to observe lions in the wild. I could build a genetic detector, use the TARDIS to scan for more sources of phantasmic radiation, try to narrow it down that way."

It was not the most straightforward solution, but without more to go on, it was their only feasible option. The scan would likely take a while, though. Psychogenic camouflage was hardly rare, limited by the number of species with access, but not the number of individuals; humans really had no idea how many alien visitors walked among them on a daily basis. Well, they wouldn't for another few decades, anyway. It would take some time to wade through all of the relevant radiation to find the right source.

But it was probably just as well, all things considered. Rose still hadn't eaten anything since Parallel Jackie's birthday celebration. She wouldn't be thrilled about further delays, but it would at least give her a chance to get some food.

He shut down the DNA sequencer and tucked everything back into the cupboard. When he turned back around, Rose was leaning against an examination table, arms folded across her stomach, eyes downcast. He walked over and pulled her into a hug, offering what comfort he could.

"They won't hurt her, Rose. It would go against their very nature."

"But you said they shouldn't even want to talk with humans, let alone kidnap them. How can you be so sure they'll act like you expect?"

"Sometimes desperation makes people do unexpected things, yes, but even then, there are limits. Unprovoked violence from a Krace? That's completely unthinkable. Even in the face of direct physical harm, they won't fight back. Their entire society has evolved specifically to prevent physical altercation. Their shields are among the most advanced in the universe, designed to withstand even direct fire from a Dalek without resorting to any form of counter attack."

Their bio-damping technology was also top-notch and would likely prove challenging to subvert, if his genetic detector was to be of any use at all. Good thing he was very clever.

"But still, they must've taken her for a reason. Doesn't it seem weird to you that they'd act so out of the ordinary?"

"It does, but look. Now we know the who. We'll figure out the why. Right now it's a question of where, and we _will_ sort it out. We _will_ get her back. I promise you we will."

She nodded into his chest, her voice muffled when she spoke again. "I know. I'm sorry, I just…. I wish I could be as sure as you are that she's safe."

"I _am_ sure. We are going to locate these Krace, and when we do, we are going to find an undoubtedly annoyed but very much unharmed Jackie Tyler. Tell you what." He pulled back from the hug but left his hands on her upper arms. "I'll get the scan started, since that's going to take a while to run, and then I'll meet you in the galley for a bite to eat, cuppa tea. What do you say?"

She nodded. "Could do with some food, yeah. May as well, if we're just gonna be stuck waiting for scans and things. We got any of those Chimerlian biscuits still, or are we out?"

"Pretty sure there are some in the cupboard above the dishwasher. Maybe some of the Marloberry jam with them? That sounds lovely, excellent choice."

Giving her arms a final squeeze, he dropped his hands and placed one of them on her lower back, guiding her out of the room and back to the corridor. Rose gave him a tired-looking smile and turned to the right, heading toward the galley; the Doctor watched her for a few moments before turning left, back toward the console room.

In order to actually glean useful information, he was going to have to run an ultra-high resolution scan. It wasn't enough to identify the mere presence of phantasmic radiation; he'd need to know concentrations and to be able to tell the fixed sources from the mobile ones, those emanating from devices versus those that were the result of a physical ability. The scan would be as good as useless without the ability to search and filter the results. Unfortunately, that level of detail across the entire Earth could take a few hours to capture, even with the TARDIS's frankly magnificent processing capabilities.

He sighed, initiating the scan and giving the time rotor a gentle caress. "Let's find her, eh? Let's get Rose her mother back."

He took the ship's hum as one of agreement and nodded, heading back down the corridor to join his companion in the galley.

After their snack, Rose decided to retire to her room for a bit so she could have a shower. The Doctor returned to the console room to keep an eye on the scan's progress and build the detector. Reprogramming the biosensors was delicate work, perhaps better suited for the laboratory than the floor beside the console, but he wanted to stay near the monitors. Besides, it wasn't as though he was unaccustomed to working there.

"How's it going? Will it be much longer?"

The Doctor looked up to see Rose entering the room. She carried two mugs of tea and set one down on the grating beside him with a small smile, standing again and brushing a lock of damp hair out of her face.

"Getting there," he said, offering her a grin in return before returning his focus to the device in his lap. "Scan's still running, and our Krace detector's nearly ready. It's a little tricky because I've had to add in the ability to override any bio-damping. Slow going, but I'm just installing the reprogrammed biosensors now, and then all that will be left is to connect the bell."

"Bell?"

He looked up at her, blinked. "So it'll go 'ding.'"

She chuckled, settling herself on the jump seat and pulling her feet up. He got back to work.

The TARDIS phone rang.

Rose leapt up in a jumble of limbs, tea sloshing out of her mug as she bolted to the handset. The Doctor scrambled to his feet, narrowly avoiding kicking over his own cup of tea.

"Hello? Mum, is that you?!"

He flipped the switch to activate the speakerphone and entered the commands to trace the call, get a location.

"-the _hell_ have you two been?" Jackie Tyler's emphatic whisper filled the console room. "I've been calling and calling, haven't I? Thought your superphone wasn't ever supposed to be out of range. You lost it, didn't you? That's why you phoned me from a different number..."

"Mum!" Rose interrupted. "That's not important. Are you all right? Have they hurt you? What do they want with you, and where are you?"

"Well I don't even know, do I? One minute I'm in my flat, these people knock at the door, I thought they were selling something, I dunno, and they start asking about my bracelet. You know, the one you brought me last month? They think it means I'm some sort of priestess or something! They keep asking me to heal someone, won't even believe me when I tell them I can't! Next thing I know, I'm falling asleep in my chair, and I wake up in a house in the middle of bloody nowhere! Don't even know if I'm still in England!"

"We're running a trace now, Jackie," the Doctor said, "but the signal's being scrambled, so it's taking longer than usual. Are you calling from your mobile?"

"It's all I've got! They won't let me use the house phone, say they're scared I'm gonna ring up my priestess mates or something. Whoever they think I am, they're afraid of her, but they keep asking for my help, anyway. They don't know I have my mobile, though, so I've been trying you on it every time I go to the loo. They've been nice and all, though not half-weird - I think they're some kind of cult! Sound like they're from China or something. But I dunno how much longer they'll be patient, since they still think I'm lying through my teeth at them. So you use that bloody box of yours to figure out where I am and get me the hell out of here!"

"We're coming for you, Mum." Rose looked over at him with wide eyes. "Is there anything you can see out a window? A mountain, some kind of tree, something that might help?"

"I don't know! Not a bloody botanist, am I? Just grass and things all the way around. The trees are far off, can't tell what kind they are."

The console beeped.

"Got it!" The Doctor moved quickly to initiate dematerialization. "Sit tight, Jackie. We're on our way."


	5. Inside the Shield

Summary: After a stressful trip to an alternate universe, Rose wants nothing more than some time with her mother, to help her get past feeling like she had lost both of her parents. When she and the Doctor arrive at the Powell Estate, however, Jackie is nowhere to be found. Where is her mother, and how will Rose and the Doctor handle this turn of events?

Rating: All Ages

Collab between Scullywolf and Aimtoallonsy. Beta'd by Re-sile.

Read on Tumblr, , Tsp, or AO3.

**CHAPTER FIVE: INSIDE THE SHIELD**

The TARDIS slowly materialized in its new location-somewhere south of Paris, according to the Doctor-while Rose tapped her foot, waiting almost immediately inside the doors.

"Hang on a mo,'" he told her when it finished, watching her until she nodded tersely. He quickly checked monitors and readouts. "This does seem to be the right place. Definite presence of psychogenic camouflage from multiple sources within the house. Best I can tell, we're looking at maybe five or six Krace inside, though that's just an estimate." He fiddled with some switches on the console, then walked over to join her on the ramp. "Ready?"

She nodded, uncrossing her arms to take the Doctor's hand when he offered it. He gave hers a squeeze, and she took a deep breath, then opened the doors.

Outside, there were just a few houses, a lot of grass, and some tree-covered hills in the distance. Rose looked around, then glanced at the Doctor, raising an eyebrow.

"That one," he said, nodding toward the house nearest the TARDIS. They took only a few steps before he took his sonic screwdriver from his pocket, aiming it at the unremarkable building.

"What is it?" she asked when he frowned.

"It's shielded, the whole house. Not unexpected, but it means there's no way we'll be able to get to your mother without the Krace actually giving us permission to enter."

"You can get us in with the sonic, disable the shield or something, right?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Maybe if we had a few days. It's not impossible, of course, but Krace shielding is very, very hard to break through, even for me. Very advanced, molds to the shape of the room or the building, depending on the shield itself and its settings, rather than a buffer style force field like the TARDIS has. We'll be able to walk right up to the front door, but we can't get inside unless they deactivate it."

"What do we do, then? Do we just… knock? Convince them to let us come inside?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Don't see that we have any other option. Might take some doing, since they're generally not too keen on strangers, as I've said. Fortunately, I've been known to be rather charismatic and persuasive on occasion." He grinned.

"And what if they don't let us in? What if they get upset about us wanting to take Mum away?"

"Well, I still don't believe they'd harm her, at least not intentionally. Any time there's a mistaken identity, there's a slight risk of accident, of course-" Rose felt her eyes widen, and he rushed to finish his sentence "-but I highly, highly doubt that the Krace would do anything that even had a chance of harming her, or us, for that matter. Trust me, Rose. We'll get it sorted."

"So we knock?" She dropped his hand, rubbing her shoulder instead, and she saw the Doctor's smile fade. He nodded again.

"We knock. Jackie said they were asking her to heal somebody, right? So we explain that she's not who or what they think she is and offer up the TARDIS infirmary instead."

"Okay."

They walked to the door, arms brushing every few steps, but neither making an attempt to hold on to the other. Rose raised her hand and knocked, then waited.

Silence.

The Doctor tried. Still nothing.

"Should we try shouting, or do we keep knocking until they get sick of it and let us in, or what?" asked Rose.

"Jackie mentioned a window. Let's try going around the house, see whether we can find exactly where she's being held. Might do some good to let her know we're here, too."

Rose grabbed ahold of his arm, the Doctor immediately covering her hand with his own, and they started away from the door. They froze when they heard it open just seconds later.

They spun quickly to face the now-open door, and Rose gasped.

"Thought you said they use something that makes them look normal," she whispered.

"The TARDIS is blocking it for us," he answered before raising his voice and speaking cheerily to the four-legged, two-armed, three-eyed, blue person who was looking out at them. "Hello! I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose, and we're-"

"Time Lord," interrupted the Krace. "Our shielding informs us of species of origin for any non-Kracian spacecraft within five hundred meters. I am sorry, Doctor, but this is not an ideal time for a social call, even if it is unheard of to receive a visit from your kind, sir."

"Ah. Well, you see, I've a rather urgent matter to discuss with whomever is in charge of your excursion." He flipped open the psychic paper as he retrieved it from his pocket, and Rose fought the impulse to see what it told the blue creature whose face turned a greenish color as he read it, his eyes widening, jaw dropping briefly before he recovered his composure.

"Our pilot, who was in charge of this excursion, has been unfortunately incapacitated. I can take you to our interim leader, if that will suffice for you."

"Yes, that'll do. Thank you," said the Doctor. As the three of them walked into the house, Rose released the breath she's not realised she'd been holding. They'd made it past the shielding. She was closer to her mother.

"You'll know, of course," said the alien leading them through narrow halls, "that the active memory modification device that allows for our travel camouflage acts differently depending upon whom it is affecting. My mother, the pilot, she was admiring the view from atop one of the human attractions, not realizing that she was unseen entirely by one of the locals, who accidentally bumped into her. She fell. It was… It was a long fall."

"I'm sorry," said Rose, unable to resist the twinge of sympathy for one of her mother's kidnappers.

"She's still alive?" asked the Doctor.

"She is comatose, sir. We've been unable to revive her. We've searched for any signs of races that are more advanced with regards to healing and might be able to help, but none of us can pilot the ship, so we've been limited to places we can reach with human transport."

They stopped in front of a closed room, and he rapped lightly on the door before opening it. Inside, in a small office, was another blue alien, this one covered in lighter-blue hair.

"I heard everything over your short-range communicator. You may leave," the person said, looking at the hairless one next to the Doctor.

"Yes, Aunt," the other alien replied, bowing slightly before turning and walking away.

"I am Kralla. You wished to see me?" she asked the Doctor.

"Yes! We're here on behalf of…" He trailed off when Kralla simply raised an ample eyebrow at the psychic paper.

"That paper worked on my nephew because he has not yet completed his training. He is young yet, and this voyage was, in part, intended to contribute to his education."

"Ah." The Doctor shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I'll just cut right to the chase then, shall I? We have reason to believe you are holding somebody here against her will."

Kralla turned the same shade of green as her nephew had earlier, opening her mouth to speak before closing it again.

"Not a very Krace-like thing to do, is it? Abduction, kidnapping… Won't be getting a very warm welcome back home after this, hmm?"

"You have to understand," she said. "We've been searching for anyone who might be able to help heal my sister, but we found nothing. Then, finally, we managed to locate someone who would be able to help. Of course, as is typical for her race, she denied any ability to assist us. We are familiar with this bargaining tactic, but every offer of compensation has been met with refusal. She is, it seems, even greedier than I anticipated."

Rose bristled, and the Doctor frowned. "But why would you think a human would be able to help you revive your sister?"

"Human? No, she's… She isn't human, I'm certain."

"Of course she's human! She's my mum!" Rose said finally. She was so close to her mother, and she itched to tear apart the building until they found her, but she suspected they'd have another of those shields around wherever they were keeping her.

Kralla was shaking her head. "I'm afraid you are misinformed. The person we are holding, she's… she's Aklipsi."

The Doctor blinked, his face slipping into the blank slate Rose dreaded more than anger.

"Who are the Aklipsi?" she asked him.

"They're a race of healers," he told her, voice steady, "among the most powerful in the universe. Their healing is almost as effective as regeneration at repairing even otherwise-mortal wounds." Rose studied him. Was he more upset than before because the aliens believed they'd kidnapped a healer, a doctor sort? "You must really be desperate if you attempted to kidnap one of the Aklipsi. They could wreak havoc on your entire planet in retribution, if they had the inclination to do so."

"Which is exactly why we can't release her to you or allow her to come into contact with any of her kind."

"What am I missing, here?" asked Rose.

The Doctor continued to face Kralla as he spoke. "The Aklipsi are healers, yes, but they are also notoriously violent, prone to seeking vengeance for real or imagined slights. They undergo as much martial training as they do medical." He turned to look at her, finally, his eyes dark. "Can you imagine an army that can heal itself as it destroys your planet?"

Rose rubbed her arm, smoothing down goosebumps. "Oh."

The Doctor turned back to Kralla, his face contorting into an expression of confusion. "How on Earth could you have got Jackie Tyler confused with an Aklip… oh."

Kralla watched him.

"What is it?" Rose asked, frustrated by her lack of knowledge.

"It was the bracelet. She mentioned a bracelet. The one we bought her after Scotland, Rose, it must have been Aklipsi-made."

"The Aklipsi do not allow others to wear their trinkets. That's how we knew she could heal my sister." Kralla was looking between the Doctor and Rose.

"It's my fault," said Rose, staring at a spot on the floor. "I picked out that bracelet. This is all my fault."

She felt the Doctor take hold of her shoulders. "Look at me. Rose, you didn't know, couldn't have known."

"Yeah, but I remember, you tried to talk me out of that one, you said…"

"I said not to waste your money on it. I saw the price and assumed it was a cheap imitation, nothing more than a pretty trinket. Not something with healing properties like the seller was claiming. But you didn't keep me from looking further into it, and you didn't kidnap her."

Rose lifted her face to his, blinking at eyes just inches from hers. She bit her lip and nodded almost imperceptibly. The Doctor watched her a moment longer before stepping back.

"Kralla, you need to take us to my mum, right now."

"I cannot do that. You say you purchased the bracelet, but Aklipsi do not peddle wares. I cannot take the chance that my rash attempt to save my sister will result in the destruction of my race. How do I know you are not working for the Aklipsi and that this is not a trap, a trick to circumvent our security by gaining our trust?"

"Look, you knew who I was as soon as I landed," said the Doctor. "Time Lord. About a millennium from now, there is a thriving market for jewelry and clothing items with supposed health and healing benefits for the wearers. The Aklipsi see this as an opportunity to profit without the cost of invasion, an opportunity worth relaxing their previous stance on others having access to their paraphernalia. But they rarely sell directly, since people so fear interacting with them, so their items are most often available through third-party merchants, locals on various trade planets. We bought it at a bazaar on Belfournium."

Kralla covered her mouth with one hand as she appeared to consider what she'd heard, what she knew. She closed her eyes and pressed both hands to her face to hide them. "Your story," she started, muffled until she uncovered her face, "makes sense, but the fact remains that I cannot risk my planet. I cannot let her go until I know for sure."

"So let me show you," said the Doctor, speaking before Rose had a chance. "I can prove it. Just let us see her."

Kralla shook her head, lifting a hind leg an inch from the ground and setting it down again, repeatedly. "If she is Aklipsi, my family is only safe because she is contained. I had expected to have secured her cooperation by now, some assurance that we could sufficiently compensate her for her services and that we would be unharmed. But we have no agreement. And now she may seek retribution for her captivity. If she is not Aklipsi, what assurance do I have that you won't report our mistake and subject my family to exile?"

"Me," said Rose, and five eyes turned toward her, the Doctor's brown ones and Kralla's three green. "Put me in another shield or whatever, and then let the Doctor prove to you she's human so you'll let her go. He won't report you, and he'll find a way to prove _that_ to you, too."

"Rose…"

She turned toward the Doctor. "It's the fastest way to get to her, yeah? Don't want to stand here arguing, and you said we can't really get into their shields." She looked at Kralla. "He wouldn't leave without me, so either he proves who she is or he doesn't, and you'll know what to do from there, right?"

Kralla studied Rose and the Doctor, looking between them, measuring. She nodded, slowly.

"You may stay in my office, and I will shield it behind me. The Doctor may show me the proof he believes he has regarding our guest."

"'Guest?'" blurted Rose, stopping herself from arguing further. This whole mess seemed to be her own fault, anyway. "Go, Doctor. I'll be fine. I need to see my mum, yeah, and this is the fastest way to do it."

"Rose…" he said again, mouth moving to form words he didn't speak. He reached forward and pulled her into a tight hug. Rose buried her face in his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist. When she loosened her grip, he stepped back, fingers trailing hers as he relinquished contact. "I'll be back soon, with your mother."

"Hurry, Doctor," said Rose, watching him leave with Kralla, the door latching firmly behind them.


	6. End in Sight

Collab between Scullywolf and Aimtoallonsy. Beta'd by Re-sile.

Just an epilogue/final chapter left! Thank you so much, readers, for being awesome :)

* * *

This was not the way things were supposed to go.

The Doctor followed Kralla down the narrow hall, fighting the urge to look back over his shoulder, forcing himself to take in his surroundings instead. He tried hard to focus on the layout of the house and not on the fact that Rose was locked away by herself. He knew she was safe, and he knew it was the quickest way to resolve things, but that didn't mean he had to like it. It wasn't right; she should be there beside him, about to reunite with her mother

He shook his head a bit to clear it. _House. Right. Focus._

The hall ran from Kralla's office at one end to an open sitting room and kitchen at the other. Along the way, there were two closed doors on the right, one on the left. It was in front of the second right-hand-side door that Kralla stopped, fidgeting hesitantly with a small device she'd pulled from the pouch she wore around her waist. Her left rear foot tapped the floor again.

_Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap._

"We can sort this out, you know," the Doctor told her, eager to keep Jackie's captor from backing out or changing her mind. "Your violation, your sister, all of it. Nobody's planet is getting annihilated, not on my watch, and _certainly_ not by Jackie Tyler. Well-" He tilted his head, tugged on an ear. "-she does have a hell of a temper. Still. Not a planet-annihilating one."

Kralla's foot stilled, and her head drooped slightly. "If she is human, as you say, then my sister is no closer to recovery than before. All of this will have been for naught."

"Ah, but that's where you're mistaken," he said brightly. "My ship has got, among other things, a first rate infirmary. The sooner you set Rose's mother free, the sooner I can see about helping your family get back home. All of you."

Kralla turned to look at the Doctor. "You would do that? You would help us, after my terrible impropriety?"

"I'll expect a full apology to Jackie, _and_ to Rose," he said, raising a finger sternly. "But yes. I will do what I can to help you. Now, can we please get on with it?"

With a slow nod, she raised the device in her hand and deactivated the shield protecting the door in front of them. She opened the door and stepped to the side, gesturing with one arm to usher the Doctor through ahead of her. Peering through the doorway, he could see a flight of stairs leading down to a cellar, another closed door at the bottom.

"Blimey, you really are afraid of her, aren't you?" he asked, one eyebrow raised. "Works the same way as an airlock, am I right? Two shielded doors, space in between. A back-up system to ensure she wouldn't be able to get into the rest of the house, even if she did manage to overpower one of you and make it out of wherever you've got her locked up. You really aren't taking any chances."

"Surely you must appreciate the necessity of such precautions when engaging with an Aklipsi, who would attack despite our unwillingness to participate in combat of any kind," she said, her face turning a purplish shade. "And just as surely you will understand why even now I must continue to observe all cautionary measures. You spin a pretty tale, Doctor, of forgiveness and happy resolutions, but do not think me so naive as to believe that is not _exactly_ the sort of trickery that might be used by one attempting to manipulate us."

With a sigh, he stepped forward and began making his way down the stairs, calling back over his shoulder as he descended. "Do whatever you need to do, Kralla. But about two minutes from now - three if Jackie insists on giving us both an earful, and she very well might - you are going to have undeniable proof that this has all been a big misunderstanding."

He heard the upper door click shut behind him and waited somewhat impatiently for her to join him in front of the lower door.

"I have disabled the shield. You may open it."

The cellar was spacious, with another large sitting area and at least two more closed doors. As the Doctor and Kralla entered, another Krace scrambled to her feet from where she had been slouched against the wall beside one of the doors. Her eyes were wide, all three blinking rapidly.

"Forgive me, Mother! I only fell asleep for a moment!"

There was a window in the door beside her, and through it the Doctor could at last see Jackie. A moment later, Jackie let out a shout, pointing as she backed away from the window. Her voice was only slightly muffled through the wood and glass and shield.

"Doctor! Behind you!"

He spun around, but though Kralla's face had gone purple again as she scowled at her daughter, but there was no other sign of anything out of the ordinary. The Doctor watched as Kralla's expression changed from one of consternation to one of confusion. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she was able to actually speak.

"She is afraid? Of me? But I've done her no harm, in any of our interactions. Allani, have you behaved inhospitably toward our guest?"

The Doctor cleared his throat. "Erm, with all due respect, this is the first time she's seeing you as _you_, Kralla. My ship is blocking your camouflage device."

"But I have made no secret of the fact that I am Krace! The device is only effective as a means of camouflage if the viewer's expectations remain unchanged. From the moment I first explained our predicament, she should have seen me, should have seen all of us, as we truly are."

"Let me hazard a guess. You never actually _said_ you were inhabitants of a planet halfway across the galaxy. A human's not going to hear 'Krace' and fill in the gaps."

"What the _bloody _hell is going on, Doctor?!" Jackie, apparently over her shock, had reapproached the window. "Who the hell is that, and where the hell is my daughter?"

"Sorry, Jackie." He stepped forward and turned his body slightly so he could address them both. "Jackie, Kralla. Kralla, Jackie. Though apparently you've met."

"No, it's a Carla's been keeping me here, and that is _not_ her."

The Doctor fixed the flabbergasted alien with his best _I told you so_ look before returning his attention to Jackie. "I promise I will explain everything, but first, let's get you out of there. I'm afraid there's been more than a little confusion all around, but as soon as I give Kralla proof that you're not going to destroy her people and lay waste to her planet, we're free to go. More or less. Rose is waiting upstairs for us."

"Why's she upstairs, is she hurt? If you aliens hurt her, I swear to God-"

"She's fine, she's safe," he assured her. "Kralla! Door please."

With shaking hands, Kralla pointed the control device at the door. The Doctor opened the door and then held his arms out to his sides. Jackie stepped through, giving him a little shove in the chest before drawing him into a hug.

"'Bout bloody time. Almost three days I've been stuck here. And they've really been aliens the whole time, all of 'em? How come they looked human til just now? Hold on." She shoved herself backward again, looking up at him with wide eyes. "They're not like those other ones, are they? With the, the zipper thing?"

She mimed a zipper on her forehead, looking warily over his shoulder at Kralla and Allani.

"Slitheen? No, no no, Kralla and her family are Krace. They appeared human to you because they wear a device that sort of tricks your brain into seeing them that way. But they're harmless! Erm, notwithstanding the whole kidnapping thing. But hang on, did you say three days?"

"Think that's right, yeah. Why?"

The Doctor turned around again to see Kralla shifting her weight back and forth, forward and back. "Anything you want to tell me?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"She responded unexpectedly to our tranquilization patch," she said, refusing to meet his eyes. "She slept for two days after our initial negotiation meeting, and then again for another three after her escape attempt."

The Doctor and Jackie responded simultaneously, their voices overlapping.

"And you didn't think to confirm her species after the first time?!"

"I was asleep for five bloody days?!"

Kralla's face had again taken on a greenish hue. "You must understand… I was desperate to believe she could help my sister. How could I know it was not just another Aklipsi negotiation tactic? She suffered no ill effect, after all."

"Oh, that is it," said the Doctor with a scowl. He grabbed Jackie's wrist in one hand and his sonic screwdriver in the other. "Sorry, Jackie, this'll only hurt for a second."

He put the sonic on setting 186G and pointed it at her index finger.

"Ow!"

A drop of blood welled up on her finger, and the Doctor held her hand up for Kralla and Allani to see. "There. Red blood, not yellow. Human, not Aklipsi. Proof enough for you?"

Kralla's face turned even more green, while Allani's flushed purple. "Mother! You set me the task of guarding over an abducted _human_?! You have condemned me to exile. You have condemned us all!"

"Now hold on, no one's getting exiled-"

"I-I did not know!" Kralla stammered. "She wears an Aklipsi bracelet! I only sought to help Krasha, to get us all back home. I promise you I did not know she was human!"

The Doctor held up his hands, stepping forward to place his body between the two Krace. "Let's just everybody calm down, eh?" He waited until all eyes in the room were on him. "Thank you. Kralla, I know you lot are not exactly the most trusting sort when it comes to outsiders, but can we at least agree that I haven't lied to you yet?"

Kralla nodded, slowly.

"And you, Allani, I know we've only just met one another, but hello, I'm the Doctor, and I'm not here to sell anyone out or get anyone in trouble or anything like that. My primary interest is reuniting Jackie over here with her daughter, and after that, I'm going to see what I can do to help get your aunt back in flying shape so you can all go back home. That sound all right?"

Allani opened and closed her mouth a few times before nodding as well.

"Brilliant! Now can we please let my friend see that her mother is all right? Because she's been worried sick, and I don't have any interest in making her wait even a second more than is necessary."

"Too right," Jackie chimed in. "I want to see Rose."

Kralla cleared her throat. "Yes, of course. Please follow me."

The pace she set, leading them back upstairs was, putting it mildly, absolutely glacial. It wasn't that the Doctor didn't understand her predicament. He even almost sympathized with her - almost - but he was also certain she was continuing to worry about things that would be sooner put to rest if she would only move a bit faster. He itched to bolt up the stairs and back to Rose. Jackie seemed to be handling her own nerves by prattling on at a mile a minute beside him.

"...still can't believe I thought you all were human though. Your accent's gone and everything! If I hadn't seen some barmy things in my day, I'd think you all were having me on, but let me tell you, since himself here started coming round, I've seen aliens zipping themselves outta people and spaceships hovering over London and killer Christmas trees. Takes a lot to surprise me, anymore."

"Aklipsi stalling tactic, indeed," Allani grumbled behind him. "All this time, she truly didn't know anything."

"Oi, I said I'd've helped you if I could," Jackie said. "You really just thought I was holding out for a bigger reward? Shame on you, Carla. Kralla. Whatever you're really called."

"Ladies, please," the Doctor interrupted, before Kralla could respond or, worse, decide _not_ to un-shield the upstairs door, which they finally reached. "Let's not get tetchy with one another, eh? Rose is waiting, remember? Kralla, how would you feel if Allani were separated from you and didn't know if you were all right?"

_That_ at least seemed to prod her into moving with a bit more urgency. She nodded once before opening the door, and the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief as they walked up the hall at a somewhat faster pace. They reached the office door, and Kralla raised the remote control; she paused, turning her head to address the Doctor.

"She may go in. You will stay with me, please."

The Doctor couldn't help rolling his eyes, just a little. What was it going to take to earn her trust? "Fine, but the door stays open. No one's getting locked up anymore, understand?" When she looked hesitant, he continued, exasperated. "Look, you were willing to trust an Aklipsi not to completely destroy you as long as you'd managed to reach a formal agreement, yes? So this is me, formally agreeing to the following terms: you give Rose and Jackie a full apology, and no more sticking people behind shields, and in return, I will do everything in my power to help your sister, and I will not sell you out to anyone, not Aklipsi, not Krace, not the Shadow Proclamation, not anyone! Now do we have an agreement?"

He held his left hand up, palm facing her. Kralla's green pallor subsided, her face returning to its ordinary blue, and she pressed her right palm to his left with a nod. "We are agreed."

"Couldn't've done all that when you first got here? Thought you were supposed to be brilliant," Jackie muttered as the door opened.

The Doctor opened his mouth to protest, but Jackie pushed her way past him and past Kralla, and Rose threw herself into her mother's embrace.

"Mum! You're okay! I'm so sorry about the bracelet. I didn't know!"

"Oh, it's all right, sweetheart. You found me. That's what matters."

A relieved smile spread across the Doctor's face at the sight of the Tyler women together again. Jackie was a lot to handle sometimes, but she was Rose's mother, and Rose needed her. And since Rose was the closest thing he had to family of his own anymore, well….

Clearing his throat, he tore his gaze away and turned to Kralla once more. "C'mon then. Let's go re-park my ship in your sister's room so we can get her sorted out, and then everyone can go back home."


	7. They All Lived

Thank you, everyone, for being fantastically supportive and amazing. This was so very much fun, and we hope you've enjoyed it at least half as much as we have!

Collab between Scullywolf and Crazygirlne. Beta'd by Resile.

* * *

"Still can't believe they thought I was an alien," muttered Jackie as they exited the TARDIS, right into her living room. "And some sort of evil healing alien, too," she continued, voice rising. "Didn't believe who I was, much as I told them I couldn't help!"

"It was a misunderstanding, Jackie," said the Doctor, with a frustratingly calm voice, and so soon after she'd been kidnapped. "That bracelet of yours is designed to help the wearer heal faster from things like cuts and muscle sprains, but they didn't know that. They just recognized where it came from. Given their lack of knowledge of future events, and their desperation to help Krasha, it's not entirely unreasonable that they initially mistook you for an Aklipsi. Why, if Rose and I had come by that bracelet in this century instead of the 42nd, they wouldn't even have been wrong about it being the sort of thing that _only_ an Aklipsi would be wearing."

Blimey, he could prattle on, that one.

"What the Doctor's trying to say," Rose said, walking over and putting her hand on Jackie's shoulder, "is that they were just really scared, and they really, really wanted to believe you could help them. There was nothing you could have said to make them believe you were just an ordinary human."

"More or less," the Doctor muttered, as if he thought she couldn't hear him.

"Oi, don't you start," she responded, hands on her hips. "I've been through a lot, I have, and I don't need you taking the piss out of me."

"Mum," said Rose, interrupting before she could really give the Doctor a proper what for, "We know. The Doctor did everything he could to get you home, safe, as quick as he could."

"Wasn't that fast, though, was it? I mean, that ship, it's meant for time traveling, innit? Couldn't you lot have just come back and kept me from getting kidnapped in the first place?"

"Can't go changing events we were already involved in," the Doctor said, whatever that meant. "I'm sorry about that, truly sorry, but it all worked out in the end, didn't it?"

"I reckon so. But what am I supposed to tell everyone? I've been gone a bloody week!"

"Jan thinks you've been on holiday with me," said Rose. "Never did come right out and say you weren't. Can say I hit my head or something, was confused before."

"Besides," the Doctor added, "it's not exactly untrue. You _were_ in France."

"Oh, and a fine holiday that was. Locked up and knocked out by a bunch of blue aliens."

"Yeah, I'd maybe leave that bit out," he said, as if she could ever tell anyone the truth without them thinking she'd gone completely round the bend.

"They're not coming back, right? And what do I do about this bracelet? What if some other ones come by sometime and think I'm one of those healers?"

"I can deactivate the native matrix, remove the elements that make it recognizable as Aklipsi-made." He pulled out his screwdriver. "You might still get some small benefit from the material itself, but it's not going to work the same, anymore. However, it won't register as alien tech, either. There'll be no risk of anyone mistaking it for anything other than an ordinary bracelet."

"I'm really sorry, Mum," said Rose, studying her face. "I should've been more careful. I won't bring you any more alien trinkets, I promise."

"Don't go promising that," said Jackie, rubbing the now-harmless bracelet. "I like when you bring me things. Means you're thinking of me. Besides, himself can make sure only safe things leave the TARDIS and come into my flat." She fixed the Doctor with a pointed look, then turned back to Rose. "Come on. I could really use a cuppa. Them aliens didn't know how to make a good tea, even with whatever it was that made them look pretty. Can't fake that, can you?"

"Okay. That sounds good," her daughter answered, attempting a smile.

The women walked into the kitchen, while the Doctor stayed behind, probably giving them a bit of privacy. He wasn't all bad, Jackie had to admit. And he seemed to make Rose happy. She started the water heating and went to pull cups from the cabinet.

"I'm glad you found me. Was getting right bored in there. Didn't even have a telly in the room! It was just me and a bed, nothing else. Well, there was the toilet, but they'd come bang on the door if I stayed in there too long, and that didn't help matters none. Well, really it was more of a polite knock, but it didn't stop, just went on and on and on. And I didn't want them to catch me with my phone, now did I? And if they were listening at the door, didn't exactly want to try anything else. Wasn't a way out, made sure of that, at least. Anyway, speaking of bed, you two can stay here tonight, if you want. No sleeping together in my flat, though! Can do whatever you like in that ship of his, but I won't be thinking about himself, naked, right in the next room."

"We're not like that, Mum," said Rose, more energy in her voice than she'd heard since they were reunited. "I've told you that."

"You can tell me 'til you're blue in the face, you can. Still might not believe you. I've seen the way you look at each other. No way you aren't getting up to something behind closed doors."

Rose opened her mouth to speak, stopping when the Doctor peeked into the kitchen. Jackie watched as her daughter's face lit up: her eyes were brighter, her smile wider, her cheeks lightly flushed.

_Not like that, my arse._

Jackie set the kettle on a tray to steep and held out the empty cups toward Rose. "Here, you two can set these out and fetch the sugar. Don't even think of putting anything by that lamp, mind."

The Doctor's eyebrows shot up, and Jackie heard Rose mutter under her breath. "What did I tell you?"

The other two ducked out of the kitchen, and Jackie shook her head, thinking about everything she'd been through since the last time she'd made a pot of tea. Strangers in her living room, nice but weird, and then her falling asleep right there in the middle of the conversation. The Doctor'd told her no one ever saw her get carried out of the flat unconscious, that all the neighbors insisted she'd walked out on her own two feet, though no one could seem to agree on who was with her. None of it made a bit of sense, but then again, she'd spent the whole week thinking those barmy blue aliens were humans, so she reckoned anything was possible.

Picking up the tea tray, she shouldered her way through the door and back into the living room, looking up just in time to catch her daughter planting one on that Time Lord's cheek. She was about to give a triumphant, "Aha!" but she saw the Doctor's eyes were wide, his cheeks gone pink, and for that matter, so were Rose's. Huh.

Jackie watched for a moment longer, and the Doctor's startled look shifted into a wide grin. He reached for Rose, his smile softening, and Jackie cleared her throat and moved fully into the room.

Maybe he was just planning to give her a hug, but she wasn't about to have them snogging in her living room.

"So," she said, a little louder than needed, just in case there were any funny ideas, "their pilot or leader or whoever they kidnapped me for, she's gonna be all right?"

"Yep! While you and Rose were catching up, I got her sorted out. No lasting damage from the fall, was really a simple matter of..." He started going on and on about their crazy biology, probably making up half the words he used.

Suppose he'd had long enough to fix her up while she was talking to Rose. She _really_ hadn't wanted to get on that crazy ship of his, but she didn't want to try to get to the airport and figure out how long until the next flight, either. Jackie settled the tray on the low table in front of the couch and poured a cup for herself, shaking her head a bit at the two of them sitting there and all but ignoring her despite the fact that the Doctor was supposedly answering _her_ question.

"...and so once I took care of that, she was good as new! They'll be off and on their way back home soon enough."

Through his whole rambling explanation, Rose had been listening intently, a soft smile on her face. Hopeless, that girl was. And so was he, practically preening as she watched him. No, they could deny it all they liked, and maybe they were better at fooling themselves than they were at fooling anybody else, but they were obviously completely smitten with each other.

She sank back into the armchair, leaving those two to the loveseat. She reached over and patted Rose on the arm, and her daughter smiled at her.

"We thought we'd stay a couple of days, if that's alright with you, Mum."

"'Course it is, but I won't have you two sharing a room, just like I said earlier."

Rose blushed, but she didn't try denying they were together this time. Blimey, that mad alien was the closest she was ever going to get to a son-in-law, wasn't he? She looked at them again, them and their adoring gazes they didn't even seem aware of, and took a slow sip of her tea. She wasn't sure she'd ever really understand this life Rose had chosen for herself, but it seemed to make her happy. Yeah, Jackie could do without alien kidnappers and killer Christmas trees, but her daughter had a point, about going out and standing up for what was right and all of that. It might worry her, wondering where they were all the time, but it still made her proud, her Rose out there making things better, daft alien holding her hand.


End file.
